JPH0690309A - Pc link for cellular telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow the user to simply input telephone data to a data base for a cellular telephone set by devising the PC link such that the user of a portable cellular telephone set can input information to a data entry device and edit the information and the information can be down-loaded to the cellular telephone set. CONSTITUTION:The user utilizes, e.g. a data edit operation function of a personal computer 20 to input registration directory information such as a name, a telephone number and an address. Then the user down-loads the information from the personal computer 20 to a portable cellular telephone set 10 via a PC link 30. The information is stored in a nonvolatile memory of the telephone set 10. Thus, even when the user forgets the charging of the telephone set 10, the information down-loaded from the computer 20 is not lost. Furthermore, for example, it is possible that the telephone set registration directory information is easily scrolled vertically by operating UP and DOWN arrow keys 3a, 3b.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cellular telephone data link for programming and executing cellular telephone user data of a device externally attached to the cellular telephone. In particular, the present invention relates to a cell phone in which the cell phone can be linked to the personal computer so that, for example, name, telephone number and address information can be remotely edited on the personal computer and downloaded to the cell phone. For data link.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Cellular phones have become widely available to the general public. The spread of cell phones has changed the form of business, especially the form of communication. It can no longer be said that people are locked up at desks because they can't go outside with their phones. Sales persons, business persons, and ordinary telephone users can call the other party from anywhere in the area where the cellular telephone service is provided. At this time, it is convenient for the user of the cell phone to easily know the telephone number that is frequently used.

The function of cell phones that store frequently used telephone numbers is well known. Cellular phones also have the ability to store alphanumeric data, and
It also has the ability to display such data to cell phone users.

For example, a cell phone may store a name in association with a stored phone number, or may display the name and phone number to the user of the cell phone via an LCD display or other suitable display. However, cell phones have keypads, such as those found on conventional touch-tone phones.

That is, most cell phones have a 12 button keypad consisting of the numbers 0 through 9, the "#" symbol and the "*" symbol. In addition, most cell phones have send buttons, power buttons, and so on. A typical cell phone does not have a separate key for alphabetic characters. Therefore, entry of data (for example, telephone numbers and names that are frequently used) into a directory in the cell phone requires a troublesome work, and data entry cannot be performed efficiently. Further, new entry (input) of several pieces of alphanumeric information (for example, address information) requires tedious, time-consuming work.

Since many cell phones can enter as many as 200 pieces of frequently used data specified by the user, the time required to input a large amount of data (name, address and telephone number) is It will be huge.

Further, when one user uses a plurality of cell phones, for example, information is selected from a master database stored in the computer of the user's home or office, and the selected information is stored in each cell phone. It would be convenient if it could be saved on the phone. Thus, in this case, the user would have a business cell phone and a personal cell phone. By selecting and transferring information from the master database to the cell phone for storage, it is no longer necessary to store business data in the memory of a personal cell phone.

Several systems have been proposed that solve the problems of supplying data to users of cell phones.

For example, there is US Pat. No. 4,852,146 (Patentee Hathcock et al.) Relating to an auxiliary dial system for mobile telephones. The system has a separate memory system and keyboard interface for entering and storing numbers dialed by cell phones. This device is connected to the cell phone and is used for the auto dialing and data processing functions of the cell phone. However, a connection to the cell phone is required to use this device for the auto dialing and data storage functions of the cell phone.

US Pat. No. 5,062,132 (Patentee Yasuda
Others) discloses a device for automatically transferring stored data between two cell phones. The system can automatically transfer data pre-programmed to one cell phone to the other cell phone. Thus, the tedious work of manually entering data into the other cell phone is eliminated. However, the device cannot select information from one cell phone's database to transfer to the other cell phone. That is, in the device shown in the above U.S. Patent, all data from one cell phone is transferred to the other cell phone. As mentioned above, this is inconvenient if one of the cell phones is used for another purpose (for example, one cell phone for personal use and the rest for business). is there. Further, in the above-mentioned U.S. Patent, it is difficult and tedious to input data to one cell phone or the other cell phone by using the limited function of the above-mentioned ordinary cell phone keypad. is necessary.

Therefore, there is provided a device capable of easily inputting cell phone data such as a telephone number, name and address to be stored in the cell phone and transferring the data to the cell phone by a simple method. Is desired.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and to allow a user to easily input cellular telephone data such as name, address, telephone number, etc. into a cellular telephone database. Is to provide.

In particular, the present invention provides a link that allows a personal computer or the like to connect to a cell phone. This link is also used as a first intermediary when entering user data into a cell phone. User data such as name, telephone number, and address can be easily input / edited into a personal computer or the like by making full use of the data editing / operating function of the above apparatus. Once the user data has been fully entered and reviewed, this information can be downloaded to the cell phone using the link connecting the cell phone to a personal computer or the like.

Thus, the present invention solves the problems of the prior art, allows the cell phone to be easily programmed, and requires the use of conventional cumbersome, tedious and time consuming methods. Absent.

While the present invention is best defined in the claims, it will be more fully understood by considering the following description of an embodiment in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0016]

1 and 2 show a preferred embodiment of the present invention. These drawings are not intended to limit the invention and are merely for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments. The invention is best indicated in the claims.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1, a portable cell phone 10 is connected to a personal computer 20 by a PC link 30. The portable cell phone 10 has a keypad 1. Further, the display 2 is provided to display the functions of a normal cell phone and also to display the telephone directory information stored in the cell phone 10. A pair of scroll keys 3a and 3b are provided for scrolling the directory information stored in the cell phone 10. The cell phone 10 also has an antenna 4.

In the illustrated embodiment, the personal computer 20 includes a display 21 and a keyboard 22.
And a housing 23 that accommodates the main components of the personal computer 20. The personal computer 20 and the portable cell phone 10 are connected by a PC link 30. The PC link consists of a first RS-232 interface jack 31 and an RS-232 cable 32.
As shown in FIG. 2, the cable 32 is connected to the personal computer 20 by the second RS-232 interface jack 33.

Referring to FIG. 2, a portable cell phone 10
Is shown, and an example of the position of the interface port 6 is shown. Interface port 6
Has a receptacle 7, and RS- is attached to this receptacle 7.
A 232 interface connector 31 can be connected. The interface port 6 can be provided, for example, on the side surface of the cell phone 5 or on the back surface of the cell phone 5. Also, the port 6 may be provided in the telephone holder. Again, the cell phone battery power is supplied. The personal computer 20 has a standard RS-232 serial port 25. The serial port 25 is provided in a slot 24 formed on the back surface of the personal computer 20. RS
When the -232 interface connector 33 is plugged into the serial port 25, the connection between the personal computer 20 and the cell phone 10 is completed.

At the time of use, the user uses, for example, the data editing / operating function of the personal computer 20,
Enter the register information such as name, telephone number and address. This input can be easily performed by using various functions of the personal computer 20.

In the illustrated example, after the telephone directory information is input to the personal computer 20, the user downloads the information from the personal computer 20 to the portable cell phone 10 via the PC link 30. This information will then be stored in the non-volatile memory of portable cell phone 10. Therefore, the user can
Personal computer 2 even if you forget to charge 0
No information downloaded from scratch is lost.

In the illustrated embodiment, the telephone directory information can be easily scrolled by using the up and down arrow keys 3a, 3b (FIG. 1). In such a system, the user of the portable cell phone 10 selects and displays desired data, and simply presses a transmission key (not shown) to read out the cell phone. You can Since the upward and downward arrows 3a and 3b are provided, it is not necessary to operate many keys to see the desired data in the telephone directory. This makes the cell phone easy to use, even for those who are driving a car or performing tasks that require considerable attention.

By using the above-described embodiment of the PC link, programming of the cell phone is greatly facilitated. That is, the user of the cell phone can keep the phone directory information in the personal computer, and when this information is needed for the cell phone, he / she can simply download the information. The user no longer needs the time-consuming and tedious task of using the numeric keypad to enter alphanumeric data every 200 times. Thus, according to the invention, data entry can be done easily and in a short time by a personal computer, and then the data simply needs to be downloaded to the cell phone. Therefore, the problems of the above-mentioned conventional technology are solved.

The application of the present invention is not limited to the use of personal computers with portable cell phones. In other words, the invention is of any kind of so-called "portable".
It can also be applied to fixed-type cell phones and fixed-type cell phones. Here, the personal computer means, for example, a laptop computer, a portable personal computer, a computer placed on the palm (palm top computer), a personal pocket secretary, or any other suitable data input (entry) device (user is a PC. Cell phone using link 1
0) is a device capable of easily inputting telephone directory information in a short time).

In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the RS-232 serial interface is provided between the personal computer and the cell phone. However, those skilled in the art can use the RS-232 serial interface.
It should be appreciated that it is not limited to the 232 serial interface. That is, any interface that can transmit alphanumeric data between the personal computer 20 and the cell phone 10 can be used in the present invention.

Various interfaces can be employed in place of the RS-232 interface. For example, a parallel interface such as a printer interface commonly found in personal computers, SCS
A general personal computer interface such as I or IEEE488, an I ² -C interface (manufactured by Philips, which will become a standard product for personal computers in the future), and a wireless interface such as an infrared link are included.

Alternatively, another technique could be used for a digital cell phone with a built-in type modem. In this technique, when a call is made to the cell phone, updated (latest) user information is sent to the digital cell phone by using the digital mode function of the built-in modem.

Further, the personal computer software used for inputting the telephone directory information is any data input software as long as the user of the personal computer can input / edit the telephone directory information. It may be. A person skilled in the art is familiar with the function of inputting and storing telephone directory information in the personal computer 20.

Although the present invention has been described as a preferred embodiment, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many variations and / or additions can be made to the above embodiments. The scope of the present invention covers all such modifications and additions, and the scope of the present invention is determined only by the claims.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention when a cell phone is connected to a personal computer.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the cell phone of FIG. 1 and a rear view of a personal computer.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Keypad 2 Display 3a, 3b Scroll Keys 4 Antenna 5 Cell Phone 6 Interface Port 7 Receptacle 10 Portable Cell Phone 20 Personal Computer 21 Display 22 Keyboard 23 Housing 24 Slot 25 RS-232 Serial Port 30 PC Link 31 1st RS -232 interface jack (interface connector) 32 RS-232 cable 33 Second RS-232 interface jack

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A database control means for maintaining an information database for use in a cell phone, a selection means for selecting information to be transferred to the cell phone from the database, and the selection information for the database control means. For transferring data from the cell phone to the cell phone. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information comprises alphanumeric data. 3. The alphanumeric data is
The system of claim 2 including the name and telephone number of the called party. 4. The information in the database includes names and telephone numbers of a plurality of called parties, and a desired name and telephone number can be selected from the plurality of names and telephone numbers by using the selecting means. 4. The system of claim 3, wherein said transfer means transfers said selected name and telephone number to said cell phone. 5. The system of claim 4 wherein said cell phone has a memory for storing selected names and telephone numbers transferred by said transfer means. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein said cell phone has scrolling means by which a user can scroll the information stored in said memory. 7. The system of claim 6 wherein said scroll means comprises at least one scroll key. 8. The system of claim 1 wherein said transfer means comprises an RS-232 interface. 9. The system of claim 1 wherein said transport means comprises a wireless communication link between said cell phone and said database control means. 10. The system according to claim 1, wherein said database control means comprises a personal computer. 11. The system of claim 1 wherein said database control means comprises a portable computer.